Windows 10: Unwanted blank space in taskbar post "News and Interests"

Hello, I recently ran Windows Update and was surprised to see my Recycle Bin icon added via toolbar on the taskbar was about 1.5" from the task icons, for no apparent reason. It took me a good bit of screwing around to realize that returning the taskbar to the bottom of the screen revealed that this blank space was a new News and Interests area! Great news, I can get rid of it! After removing News and Interests, THERE IS STILL A GAP. It is not as big, maybe 1/4". But absolutely annoying. Is this possible to fix or do we have to wait till it comes down the pipeline??

:)

 

Taskbar with blank space

It may be possible that the blank space on your notification area is connected with the OneDrive app. We can reset the app by following the steps below:

• To open the Run dialog box, press and hold the Windows key and press
  R.
• Type %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe /reset and press
  Enter.
• The OneDrive icon will disappear and reappear for a few minutes.
• If the OneDrive icon doesn't appear on the notification area, open the
  Run dialog box again and type %localappdata%\Microsoft\OneDrive\onedrive.exe and press
  Enter.

Keep us posted with the result of the steps above.

 

Removed Windows Store from taskbar, but blank space remains after removal

Hi,

To resolve your concern with the blank space on your taskbar after removing Windows Store, we suggest that you check this
thread. Look for
Kalpana Shankarappa's post. Other Community members found it helpful.

We would appreciate it if you could get back to us and provide us your feedback.

 

Removed Windows Store from taskbar, but blank space remains after removal

I wanted to remove the Windows Store icon from my Windows 10 taskbar, as I rarely need to visit the Store and I wanted to reclaim the space used by the Store icon on the taskbar.

When I right-clicked on the Store icon and selected "Unpin" as the option, the icon image disappeared but there remains a blank space where the icon used to be. If I add another application to the taskbar, it appears to the right of the blank space.

When I right-click on the blank space, the options shown are: "Store" (with the Store icon showing to the left), "Pin to taskbar" and "Close all windows". If I then click "Pin to taskbar", a new Windows Store icon appears in the taskbar to the left of the
blank space, but the blank space remains.

How do I get rid of the blank space? Is there a registry area where I can view all the entries used to populate the taskbar with added apps and where I might be able to isolate the entry for the blank space and delete it?